


My Personal Notes on Old Gods and Great Dragons

by Replica_Jester



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age (Comics), Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Dragon Age Lore, Personal Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-17 00:21:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12353559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Replica_Jester/pseuds/Replica_Jester
Summary: My personal headcanon notes to explain otherwise frustrating loopholes in Dragon Age lore regarding the Taint, Archdemons, Old Gods, Great Dragons, Flemeth/Yavana/Morrigan and Mythal's purpose, Solas and his ideas about the Evanuris being Archdemons.These ideas are MINE and MINE ALONE. They are NOT canon Dragon Age Lore,though Ihavementioned quite a bit of canon Dragon Age Lore in these notes.I am posting this here simply to have an extra copy online in case I forget my google drive password or I lose it from my hard drive.





	My Personal Notes on Old Gods and Great Dragons

I may get fandom shit flying around about me for this, but if you don't like this theory, just piss off and don't bother sticking around to comment. ** _This theory is mine alone_** , and to me it makes sense and leaves no room for frustrating loopholes otherwise in canon lore. Some of this is repetitive, but it's for my benefit only - to keep my ideas within context so I don't come back to this later and go _WTF was I talking about??_  Some of it is also in personal thought-form (I think, I believe, etc) - also for my own benefit. Posting this here simply to have an extra copy floating around online in case I lose mine on my harddrive/lose my password for my email/google drive. But if others enjoy it, then I'm glad for that.   
  
I don't mind comments and others adding more thoughts (I know I always miss codex entries and have a bad habit of skipping cutscenes) so I'm always open to any info I might have missed. But if you disagree completely or if you have a feeling you'll disagree or you plain don't like looking at anything other than a very limited general public, boxed opinion, then don't even bother reading. Comments will be disabled at the first negative one. FYI in case you aren't aware: 

  * **criticism**  = also known as bashing someone's ideas because you don't agree. It's when you use your own personal preference to insist someone else's preferences are "stupid" and "don't matter" (Unacceptable no matter the circumstance; that's just called being a bully, and we're too old for junior high bully drama here on DA... right?) 
  * **Critiquing**  = offering insight a person may not have based on content they've posted (like if it's obvious I missed an important codex entry and you point it out to me; NO part of critiquing comes from personal opinions/preference). 



**_Please keep all comments mature enough by critiquing_** _;_  you're mature enough to start an account here, so  _all interactions should be just as mature._

 

 

 

 

      * Factual Canon Dragon Age Lore: The 5th Blight actually began _five years before_ DAO took place, but did not start to show on the surface until DAO time line for some reason. (begin personal theory) - So considering:

        * could there not have been Blights before Wardens were created? (The "first" Blight started a LONG time before Wardens were created, at least one other Blight could have happened but never surfaced)

        * the Archdemon  _ **then**_ failed to survive being Tainted, or failed to come to full power

        * maybe killed by natural forces?

      * Darkspawn get more intelligent with each Blight,

        * whether due to the Architect's experiments

        * or due to whenever the darkspawn find a new race to breed from.

        * In DAO, genlocks were a new race of Darkspawn (someone at Ostagar calls them "never before seen").

          * I assume genlocks were just never seen on the surface before

          * Though also odd because genlocks should have been the first darkspawn seeing as the dwarves were already underground with the Taint?

          * (Because the Taint originally came as a natural source from the Forgotten Ones realm {aka, lands} [Andruil brought this Taint plague back with her after she visited, and it poisoned her own lands] and if the Evanuris lived above ground, then the Forgotten Ones lived below; hence the need for a messenger {who had immunity to both lands' natural bacteria/viruses} - Fen'Harel)
          * (though it's also possible any elves who moved in [from the surface] with the outcast Forgotten Ones elves would have been infected with the Taint. So surface elves and dwarves would have been the first Tainted to the point of becoming Darkspawn)
          * (also remember: no one knows when exactly the dwarves showed up a race because when they were discovered, they already had thriving cities and the Deep Roads carved)
        * So either from natural evolution of Darkspawn OR the Architect’s intervention, the second Archdemon was successfully created from an Old God

        * Possibly the very first Blight was the one unsuccessful one?

          * but the Darkspawn were just so primitive then they accidentally killed the Archdemon before the Blight surfaced?

          * they made mistakes digging for the Archdemon?

          * or they were in regions where the newly dug up?

          * Archdemon was exposed to bacteria and viruses it had no immunity for?

      * I'm really siding right now with the Old Gods NOT being the Evanuris (ancient elven gods like Mythal, June, Sylaise, etc) because:

        * the Darkspawn would NOT have needed to dig them out.

        * The Evanuris were in deep sleep (Uthenera) in special chambers designed for it,

          * there was no need for digging, could have walked right in.

          * There's that special Uthenera chamber in the Brecilian with that jug and pool of water and alter,

          * and if Solas had caved in an Uthenera chamber, those Evanuris would have died,

          * I assume his trap was only magical

            * Because then the only way the Veil would drop/free the Evanuris was if Solas died

            * But the Veil trap is still up

          * Again: No need for digging to reach them.

      * Gaider once said the Old Gods were BASED ON the Evanuris ---

        * but that doesn't mean they are the same thing

        * Based On simply means the idea of one thing spawned the idea of another thing

        * I'm also finding it hard to believe EVERYONE who helped make the game did not catch his lore mistakes,

        * but maybe things have been worded a specific way to make the fandom assume something which is not real;

          * which is why I now believe Alistair is NOT Fiona's son

            * He could still be elf-blooded even if he’s not Fiona’s son, she’s not the only elf in the world

          * Maric in Those Who Sleep says he knows Loghain and Cailan and Alistair’s mother are all dead

          * Alistair’s name was not specifically mentioned in The Calling, only a blonde baby boy who looks like Cailan

            * Alistair is also Ginger, not blonde, in concept art and games and comics

        * Huge mistakes like everything done regarding Lore don't just pass over editor's eyes, and we know they had editors.

          * As for timeline discrepancies, I think they are all severely naive regarding travel times even ones they created

          * They treat timelines as if everyone had cars and 65 MPG speed limits

          * Gaider wrote The Calling as if it only took a week to get through the Deep Roads,

            * though they traveled through the same Deep Roads we did in DAO + the Deep Roads we go through in Awakening -

              * but that's another thing too - unless the Architect moved his entire lab from its location The Calling to the old mining tunnel in Awakening, there is only 1 entrance to that place - through the Wending Wood)

              * No way Maric could have gone in through a Deep Roads entrance, there just wasn’t one.

      * I'm more in mind now of Solas being deeply confused about the Old Gods being the Evanuris

        * How the heck would he even know the ancient elves he imprisoned centuries ago were the Archdemons?

        * not to mention there's only 1 female Archdemon/Old God but many more female Evanuris.

        * If Solas got his information about the Old Gods being his fellow Evanuris from the Fade, who's to say he was not tricked by a demon?

        * The demons are not all hunkydory like he and Merrill like to insist,

        * they became demons for a reason and can't be trusted

        * Justice spending all that time inside Anders proves to be untrustworthy in the end.

        * Solas I think was just in severe guilt and WANTED to think there was a way to reverse the damage he did by imprisoning the Evanuris + creating the Veil.  

        * Because he was not Tainted, Solas would not be able to Feel the Archdemons awaken

        * thus he would not be able to feel if an Archdemon was really a mutated old elf god or not.

        * Plus, the Evanuris were trapped inside the Fade

        * that was the reason for the Veil,

          * to separate them from warring against each other and destroying the world by destroying The People (the regular elves) whom they used as slaves (even nice old Mythal)

        * The Darkspawn never tore the Veil for physical bodies to pass through

          * they don’t have that ability,

          * The darkspawn we see in the Fade are only figments of our Warden’s imagination

          * it took the most powerful Tevinter magisters a LONG time to figure out how to breach the Veil

            * \+ they needed an Old God to help them get in

            * The Old God they sought help from (Dumat) was already outside the Fade

      * I think the Old Gods really are Great Dragons

        * like Yavana protects in the comics,

        * like the Qunari revere

          * because they're supposedly descended from dragons, right?

      * What if DAO was the 6th Blight, not the 5th?

        * The Taint is older than the Veil,

        * it was naturally there in that ancient thaig in DA2 with no Archdemon around

        * it had been there long enough to corrupt the lyrium.

        * Waking the Archdemons before the “first” successful Blight might have been in vain due to the creatures that accidentally evolved (into Darkspawn) after exposure to the whatever that the natural form of Taint deep underground is

        * How does anyone know an Archdemon didn't accidentally die during its awakening from more primitive Darkspawn who didn’t know how to keep it alive?

        * It would make sense if they really were Great Dragons.

        * Yavana said there was only 1 Great Dragon left,

          * the Mother of all Dragons.

        * What if Razikale is that Mother of all Dragons

          * and all the others are already dead now?

          * Now meaning at the time we meet Yavana in the Comics (6ish yrs after DAO I think?)

          * Razikale the only female Old God, remember

        * But Corypheus might have known the rest of the world and the Wardens didn't know that

        * maybe from seeing into Larius/Janeka’s memory

        * Where he saw the popular belief was: assuming the Old Gods were ancient elven gods

        * so he used that to his advantage with his False Calling?

          * The Wardens believe, if i remember right, the Callings will only happen if there are Old Gods left to awaken,

          * and they assume there are 2 more left.

        * But if Yavana is right and the last Great Dragon and the Mother of Dragons...

        * if Razikale is the only female Old God,

          * She doesn’t specifically say they are one and the same but she speaks and emphasises so that makes me think this

        * and if the Old Gods are really Great Dragons

          * the Dragons who first walked the planet, the most intelligent and oldest life

        * then Razikale is the only Old God left.

          * At the time of meeting Yavana, of course

        * Also going off Bioware canon that Kieran does not exist

        * And Solas was seriously mistaken and deluded by his guilt.

        * And that means at one point, 1 of the Old Gods was killed by some unknown force before Grey Wardens ever came into existence -

        * and it never came back into existence.

        * So that means there IS another way to kill an Archdemon.

          * And that means a lot of very educated people in Thedas are manipulated either by "knowledge" from the Fade,

          * including Avernus from Warden's Keep dlc.

            * Though, I think his experiments prove that Archdemons and Taint are not related to the Evanuris,

            * because he says Demons are confused by blood magic  ** _by someone who's Tainted_** ,

            * so the Old Gods couldn't be the Evanuris who were trapped in the Fade by Solas otherwise all demons would understand Blighted Blood magic

              * because demons (who live in the Fade) were the first to teach blood magic, if i remember right.

        * But no one knows how we know the names of the Archdemons.

          * They could have gone out of the order Thedosians think they awaken in; they are bound to no order mere mortals place upon them.

        * But there  ** _could have_**  been a true Blight before the "official first" blight

          * but that could have Archdemon died on its own from a natural cause during the years it took for the Blight to surface

            * Does the soul only hop bodies if it forcibly died?

          * especially if it was deeper than the Deep Roads,

          * like if it maybe started in somewhere depth-wise similar to that ancient thaig in d2 where it was so old the dwarves who lived there didn’t even have Paragons and modern dwarves never heard of times when dwarves never had Paragons

        * If a Blight started somewhere like there that no one knew about  

          * but maybe the corruption of the Taint itself slow-killed the first Archdemon?

        * Remember it took 5 years for the DAO Blight to spill up onto the surface

        * Initial Tainting of the very first Archdemon would have been enough to begin a Blight;

          * enough to send a signal to the darkspawn  

          * who were already for some reason always searching for a new master even though they’d never had nor knew about the Great Dragons Yavana claims were the blood of the world

        * If the Taint slowly killed the first Archdemon before the Blight ever spilled to the surface, it would still count as a Blight -

          * but there were no Wardens to detect it

          * and with no darkspawn on the surface  **+**  if where the Archdemon was awakened was deep enough underground in another ancient forgotten area no one knew about, no one would have known about it.

          * It would have taken them too damn long to find their way to the surface

      * I'm really leaning towards the Great Dragons being the Old Gods

        * Yavana does say the only Great Dragon left is the Mother of all Dragons.

        * Razikale is the only female of the Old Gods.

        * Because of the gender count, none of the Old Gods could be the Evanuris

          * Old Gods: 6 Males, 1 Female

          * Evanuris: 4 Males, 4 Females (including Mythal,excluding Fen’Harel)

          * Forgotten Ones also locked away by Solas/Fen’Harel: 1 known Male, 2 others unknown gender (excluding Fen’Harel)

          * Fen’Harel is considered a member of each being as he was their Messenger Boy

        * All in all, too many ancient elven gods locked away to account for only 7 Old Gods

          * It doesn't match up for the old gods to be the ancient elven gods.

        * There had to have been a first Archdemon who did not survive to see the Blight reach the surface.

        * I also wonder if the Architect figured out a way for the Archdemon of the official "first blight" to survive being Tainted,

          * since he was alive before the "first Blight"

          * and it's his goal to uplift all darkspawn and find a way to help them survive the bad effects of the Taint

          * i.e. uplifting them by giving them the Wardens immunity to the bad effect

          * He hears the calls of the Old Gods same as any darkspawn,

          * it really wouldn't surprise me if he was the one who made it possible for the "first blight" Archdemon to survive being Tainted/Corrupted

          * Just like he made it possible for The Mother and other Hurlocks to be intelligent and resist the degenerative effects of the Taint so they could talk and think independently

          * Proven he is brilliant to no end

      * Yavana says she revived some of the sleeping dragons who had not died in their sleep.

        * Regular dragons, not Great Ones/Great Dragons

        * She says she was unsuccessful awakening any of the Great Dragons

        * _**But there is still one (female) Great Dragon left**_

        * I really think the Archdemons who had been corrupted in their sleep were the Great Dragons Yavana was unable to reach and revive

        * And I think it is very possible Tainting the first one when darkspawn awakening it killed one of Old God great dragons.

      * That's where the confusion about them being the ancient elven gods lies.

        * Solas was more like a messenger "god",

        * like Hermes (Greek Mythology) in a way.

        * He only was seen as the Trickster God  _ **after**_ he locked the Evanuris + Forgotten Ones away

        * He may not have known about Dragons sleeping like that.

          * Yavana says dragons do their own form of Uthenera

        * the Uthenera may have even been learned from the Great Dragons,

          * but only the most powerful of the elves could have accomplished it without death.

          * Pretty sure that’s a canon thought, that’s why those particular elves were named Evanuris and revered as Gods

      * It fits with Gaider saying the idea for the Old Gods were based on the elven gods.

        * The game devs created the Evanuris characters, but later created something  _ **greater**_ than the Evanuris

        * Some other Gods that maybe taught the Evanuris to be the "advanced intelligent most powerful" elves of their kind.

          * The Old Gods taught humans magic, why wouldn’t they teach elves who came before humans?

        * Kind of like in Mass Effect Trilogy how the Protheans taught the Asari

        * And until Javik, everyone thought the Asari came to their own intelligence on their own

          * Because the Protheans had died out so long ago and left the Asari as the most intelligent race

          * To me, this is reminiscent of the Great Ones/Old Gods/Great Dragons teaching the ancient Elves

          * [not counting the fact that everyone stems technology advances from the Reapers].

      * Sounds like the children of the Great Ones (great dragons) were the ones Yavana managed to awaken,

        * but she could never reach the Great Ones.

        * But the  _ **darkspawn**_ could have reached the Great Ones/Great Dragons if they were buried deep underground where Darkspawn thrive and spawn

      *       * What Yavana says about Before the mysteries were forgotten, that's exactly what Morrigan says about the Dark Ritual.

        * Yavana knows she has a sister (knows about Morrigan specifically & thinks she’s naive), yet Morrigan claims she was raised in the swamp

        * and Morrigan passionately believes Flemeth raised her accordingly to protect the secrets Flemeth knew.

        * Yavana and her dragons were one of them.

        * Flemeth giving her Mythal (or Mythal + Urthemiel soul) to Solas to help him tear down the Veil and destroy all non-elf life makes no sense UNLESS Flemeth knew doing so would ONLY tear down the Veil

          * Whence the last Great Dragon/Old God would be awakened safely

            * by the Evanuris? Or by Morrigan/Kieran?

          * And the last Great Dragon would intervene on Solas’ plan to end all non-elf life

            * Because the Old Gods valued humans - taught them magic, wanted humans to be part of the world like the elves were

      * I wonder now if part of Mythal's spirit is in Yavana, like from that enchanted locket Flemeth gave Hawke?

        * I suspect Yavana stays alive just as Flemeth does



            * which would explain the stories from all over Thedas about a Witch of the Wilds and her Many Daughters

            * Which validates Morrigan telling Leliana as a child she was terrified of knowing she would have to mate with men to produce daughters and carry on Flemeth’s work

            * because it sounds like Yavana's been trying to reach and awaken the Great Ones but she says she can never manage to,

            * but there is one last Great Dragon she wants Alistair to resurrect,

              * because Maric was unable to.

            * Yavana wants  _ **him**_ to awaken it  _ **before**_ the Darkspawn can corrupt it?

            * So Flemeth sending Morrigan off for the Dark Ritual to capture the purity of the Old God's soul was not necessarily to possess a more powerful body but preserve one of the last 2 Great Dragons?

              * Which means as bitter as both Flemeth and Mythal sound about being betrayed by their people, Mythal’s soul is still pure and uncorrupted by a physical body (unlike Justice/Anders)

            * It's canon Alistair denied the Dark RItual and Kieran never existed thus Urthemiel died completely.

            * Which would mean Alistair (or Maric) awaking the last Great Dragon (instead of the Darkspawn finding it first?) would prevent the last Blight from ever happening??

              * And maybe THAT'S the key to restoring the Golden City and life??

                * Which then validates that Solas is delusional in his guilt by thinking he must end all non-elf life for purity to be restored to the land/the Fade

              * Yavana says the blood of the Great Dragons is the Blood of the World.

            * But Yavana would only - at least in this body she has -  _if she also possesses some of Mythal's soul and births daughter's to keep Mythal living_  - would have to be about 40-ish at the time of Silent Grove.

            * her having a baby about 25 yrs ago (roughly Morrigan’s age at the time we meet Yavana) would make more sense.

              * Makes more sense than Flemeth being pregnant when she was beginning to get old and wrinkly (she is without a doubt old in the games)

              * Explains why Morrigan also finds it impossible to imagine Flemeth pregnant and why Morrigan keeps an open mind that she may have been kidnapped

            * It actually reminds me of cloning like in the movie Aeon Flux

              * the very same ppl are cloned and re-cloned over and over and over to keep society limited and controlled within the vicinity, and the leaders clone themselves and teach their younger selves all they need to know.

            * When all the Yavana's reach Crone-age, they take over as Flemeth (?) and raise the young female mage,

            * there is always 3 -- a Maiden, a Mother, and a Crone?

            * and they just keep rotating, which might be how Yavana knows about Morrigan

            * and maybe how Morrigan, if she's telling the truth of not knowing any sister, how she doesn't know about Yavana

            * I'm also betting the bodies of Yavana/Flemeth all have Dragon Blood in them too because

            * Yavana is a very nurturing caretaker to the dragon in her lair.

            * I'm betting they see her as family,

            * just as the same reason they don't attack Alistair for having the dragon blood.

            * Having dragon blood in their physical bodies also probably keeps what’s left of Mythal’s soul from completely deteriorating or turning into a demon

              * Keeps their bodies strong enough to live alone to protect such secrets as long as they have lived

              * Maybe also how each body of Flemeth’s is able to shapeshift into a dragon??

            * And Morrigan that little shit broke that cycle of Great Dragon watchers

              * !&^@&^%$&$^(@^@*!!!

              * I love her and totally understand why she was afraid of Flemeth possessing her but still

              * *&$^@*^&*!%#$!&*(@!!!

              * _!!!!!!!!!!_

          * Morrigan in game is even derieved from "The Morrigan" (the Morrigna) of Celtic mythology:
            * "...a manifestation of the earth- and sovereignty-goddess,chiefly representing the goddess's role as guardian of the territory and its people.
            * She can be interpreted as providing political or military aid, or protection to the king—acting as a goddess of sovereignty, not necessarily of war." THis is exactly what Morrigan did for Alistair (who is canon King)
            * and it describes Flemeth/Mythal's purpose for protecting the Great Ones/Old Gods (because the Blood of the Great Dragons is the Blood of the World, accordidng to Yavana) with all her cycles of Daughters is.
            * "The Morrigan" (or, the Morrigna) is comprised of 3 sisters yet Morrigan of the triune is often seen alone: 
              * goes along with Morrigan saying she's never seen another daughter before
                * yet in a way, Flemeth in DAO/Yavana/Morrigan are all "daughters" of Flemeth, so in this sense, Morrigan is never truly "without" her sisters
              * Represents land, fertility
                * the things Yavana says the Great Dragons signify (life of the land) 
              * Also kingship, war, death and foreboding, and can change into the Battle Crow (shapeshift) - to change tides of battle in her favor
                * like Flemeth does at Ostagar/with Hawke
                * & in Flemeth's early days when she lived/made daughters soley to take revenge upon the Alammari
                * like Morrigan shapeshifting to changes the tides of battle.
              * Flemeth's daughter's are "horrific things that kill a man with fear"
                * which is exactly what the Battle Crow does - flies around the battle field and superstitious men see an Omen of their death, and of Fear they are vulnerable and made easy prey in battle. 
          * Yavana wanting Alistair to fulfill Maric’s promise to Flemeth to venture to Yavana once Maric’s children were born so Maric could revive the last Great Dragon from it’s sleep ----

            * That really fucking adds new deeper meaning to Flemeth sending Morrigan away with the Wardens for the Dark Ritual by telling them “Consider this repayment for your lives.”  

            * **Which means either Alistair** _or Kieran (but eww)_ **doing Yavana’s ritual**   _(but it would have to be with Morrigan now??? In the words of comic Alistair:_ _Why is it always a ritual??_ _)_   **to awaken the last Great Dragon means not only preventing the last Blight but curing Grey Wardens everywhere???**
              * and ending the Calling for good???
              * And maybe with Solas destroying the Veil for good it will spread the Fade back over the planet again
              * and maybe purify where the last Great Dragon slumbers and when the Evanuris awaken they can help keep the Darkspawn off so Solas (or Morrigan??) can finish what Flemeth/Yavana intended all these years
              * and revive the last Great Dragon/Old God Razikale safely so the Mother of Dragons will not corrupt into an Archdemon and keep the world in doom???



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> ***NOTE***: the inserted picture is from the Bioware/Dragon Age comic Silent Grove, and all copyrights to the clipped image are theirs,  _ **not**_  mine


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